Textbook:

Course Overview:

In this short course we will explore the standard model of particle physics. In this model all matter is built from quarks and leptons which interact via the exchange of gauge bosons. Thus, the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions are mediated by the photon, W and Z, and gluon, (and described by QED, electroweak theory, and QCD), respectively. A unifying theme in the development of the standard model has been the identification of patterns or symmetries in the microworld, including the identification of certain broken symmetries (of which the Higg’s mechanism is an example). Although theoretical particle physics requires the full machinery of relativistic quantum mechanics, this short course will be accessible to anyone with some exposure to physics. Our focus will be on particle phenomenology as opposed to detailed calculations (i.e., we will learn how to construct Feynman diagrams but we will not actually evaluate them). We will also discuss, to a lesser extent, experimental methods and detector physics. And who knows, perhaps some non-standard model supersymmetric particle will be discovered during the course! So, as James Joyce says, “Three quarks for Muster Mark!”.